Endangered Species Act | A History of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 | 1988 ESA Amendment

Congress enacted the following amendments to the Endangered Species Act in 1988 :

Monitoring candidate and recovered species was required, with adoption of emergency listing when there is evidence of significant risk [section 4];

Several amendments dealt with recovery matters: 1) recovery plans were required to undergo public notice and comment, and affected Federal agencies were required to give consideration to those comments; 2) new subsection 4(g) required five years of monitoring recovered species; and 3) biennial reports were required on the development and implementation of recovery plans and on the status of all species with plans;

A new section 18 required a report of all reasonably identifiable expenditures by the Federal government and States that received section 6 funds on a species-by-species basis on the recovery of endangered or threatened species; and

Protection for endangered plants was extended to include a prohibition on malicious destruction on Federal land and other “take” that violates State law [section 9].